Seventh Year
by HannahKayHyper
Summary: Hermione is going back to school after the Second Wizarding War. Some things have changed, but others will never be the same.
1. Chapter 1

**Hermione Granger is going back to school after the Second Wizarding War. Some things have changed, but others will never be the same.**

It was the middle of summer when I made my decision. I was going to go back to Hogwarts. I didn't care that we could just "get a job" as the boys so poetically put it. I wanted to finish school and finish it right. It'd caused a giant fight between Ron and me though. He'd insisted that I was insane and prodded at me to not go back and instead stay with him. I refused to do that. I wasn't just going to settle into a life at his side like that. I had to find my own way, one way or the other. I was prepared to write, but Ron was angry. In the end, our relationship was over. It was that simple. Maybe not for good - heaven only knows what the future will bring - but for now I was going to go to school.. for me not anyone else. I think that's what's best for now.

I owled the school and Headmistress - it was still hard to think of Professor McGonagall - McGonagall replied rather quickly. She'd love to have me back and enclosed the list of books I'd need for my seventh year courses as originally planned. Another thing.. she surprised me by asking me if I would mind taking over the position of Head Girl. "_I know this isn't particularly protocol, but I'd like to ask if you'd be Head Girl this year. I really believe you're fit for the job, and you didn't get the chance to do it when it was technically your time... owl me back if it's not alright and I'll make the necessary arrangements. Either way, looking forward to seeing you soon, Miss Granger_."

The day before school started I was just finishing up on packing when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. It struck me just how different I looked than the last time I crested the halls of Hogwarts - as a student, not a warrior because then I was long changed by the search and destroy mission we'd lived. My eyes, still the same dark brown, were no longer soft. Instead they were harder, a double edged sword, watching and waiting for a hidden enemy to be revealed. There was a certain set to my mouth that suggested I'd watched my friends at the hands of death, and even drawn a few out, but still lost many. The youthful glow to my skin was dulled to a less radiant tone, but none the less beautiful.. merely no longer peppered with childlike glee.

Yet there was one feature about my person still keenly the same. My hair was a mane of dark caramel curls - while more manageable than it was first year, my hair was still just as thick and wild as it once was. The kinks set against my head whispered past youth, but didn't dare match the rest of my face. The two didn't match in the slightest and I slipped my fingers around, grasping the long locks in my fingers and twisting them half up to elude a shorter style. With a soft exhale, I nodded to myself. It was time I cut it off.

So, I took to the streets, veering toward the Muggle salon where I'd always cut my hair (just a routine snip snip and we were done). The now gray haired old lady behind the counter grinned from ear to ear when she saw me. "Hermione!" She hurried around the counter, catching a magazine on her hip and sending it barreling toward the ground with a spat.

Before she could even fret over it, I was handing it to her. "Mrs. Bennett." I offered in response and she grinned, pulling me in to a hug.

"It's been too long, Miss Granger." She half scolded, ushering me to the available cutting station. "You want the usual?" She asked, knowing my haircut like the back of her hand.

As she gathered her supplies, I regarded myself again before shaking my head. "Not this time, Mrs. Bennett." That caught her attention and she looked up, watching as I gestured to the length I wanted, just above my shoulders.

It wasn't any time at all until she was cutting. Her wicked scissors moved like extensions of her hands, fast as the speed of light but with perfect precision. I never once doubted her skills as she pulled my hair down to create the perfect bangs. The idea was a radical change and as she finished, I could see how perfectly the cut now matched my features as my earlier vision.

_Hermione Granger, revised. Hermione Granger, 2.0. Hermione Granger has grown up and this is the result. She's seen hardship and heartache and death and battled death herself and this is her. This is the way she saw the world._ I rationalized to myself and maybe I was right. I know it would all be alright. Somehow I know that. This next year would be a good thing. Of that I am certain.


	2. Chapter 2

**i'm getting there :) **

The Hogwarts Express was crowded with newcomers, but I was patiently nuzzled into a compartment with Ginny and Luna. It was strange not having Harry, Ron or even Neville with us, but the three of us sat together still. Luna was reading her father's magazine and mindlessly waving her wand about like some sort of deranged posy while Ginny raved incessantly about my hair.

"Hermione, why didn't you tell me? I could've cut mine too." She was excited. Being the oldest Weasley at the school was a big deal to her. I could tell by the way she held her head a little higher, eyes twinkling with bright eyed excitement.

I laughed softly, regarding her as I stuffed my book into my rucksack (obviously I wouldn't be having any reading time). "It's a bit strange, isn't it? Not having them here, I mean." I mentioned halfheartedly, ruining her mood.

"It is." She swallowed, head swiveling to look out the window. "Do you miss him terribly?" I knew she meant Ron.

I shrugged. "It's over Ginny," was my only response. I knew it had to be hard on Ginny, taking a side between me and her brother, but I never asked her too. Ron and I just weren't meant to be. It was a volatile from the start. In hindsight, I should've seen it coming, but even Hermione Granger has skips in her judgement.

She nodded. "Yeah, sorry." Her eyes quickly darted down to her lap.

I sighed. "Sorry, Gin." I told her, running my fingers through my now short curls. "I'm just a little uptight about it."

"Yeah, I understand." She answered, pushing her stick straight ginger hair behind her ear. "It's got to be hard, coming here after all that's happened."

I nodded slowly. "That's not exactly the hard part. Hogwarts.. Hogwarts is my home, but it's odd not having them here, you know?"

"You do miss them." There was a sly smile on her rosy lips.

I laughed, soft bell tones against the misty train windows. "Of course I miss them, Ginny. They're my friends. They still are. But things have changed." There was a beat of silence before I continued. "Really though it's just strange being the oldest. I mean I'm the only one from my year, mine, specifically." Even as I said them I knew the words were tarnished with confusion. They weren't Hermione Granger type words. On the contrary they were scattered brained and strangely erratic - two things Hermione Granger hardly mirrored.

But as my mind prated senselessly about my own inner monologue, Luna startled both of us by interjecting: "Actually you won't be the only one from your year." Her eyes dreamily told me, now looking up from her magazine.

Ginny asked before I'd even processed the question. "What are you talking about, Luna?" Her ginger hair only intensified her gaze.

"You don't know?" Luna inquired but must've evaluated our expressions because she continued without further comment. "Draco Malfoy is coming too."

Ginny's eyes met mine in a stroke. "What?" We both asked, but the question was answered swiftly. The compartment door opened and a tuff of white blond hair greeted us.

"Draco." His name fell from my lips like a casted spell. I could feel the realization washing over me. I, the Golden Girl of Gryffindor and oldest girl of seventh year, is Head Girl. Before me stood the Slytherin Prince who just happened to be the oldest boy of seventh year. The picture painted beautifully yet made bail raise in my throat. The thought of sharing quarters with Draco Malfoy turned my stomach.

Everything was absolutely still as our eyes met in a silent acceptance of the truth. He then drug his trunk into the compartment. "Do you mind?" He was already sitting down beside me. "Everywhere else is full."

A dead silence panned for a fraction of a second before Luna nodded. "It isn't any trouble." Loony Lovegood, always oblivious. It was one of the things I loved about her, but now...

"Thank you," he surprised me with those two words, but silence engulfed the compartment once more.

Ginny and I exchanged a silent look and she coughed. "Draco... I didn't know you'd be coming back." She offered, not unkindly, as I shifted in my seat to rest my back against the window.

He nodded. "Well, we never ran in the same circle." His voice was missing a certain condescending glow, but now seemed seeped in sad sarcasm.

"What brought you back?" Suddenly Ginny was in interrogation mode. She was asking questions and expected answers.

"Same reason as Hermione, I'd expect." He answered, gesturing to me for a fraction of a second. His awkward movements infuriated me for some reason. I wasn't sure why, but he seemed to be playing innocent like it would change the fact that he turned to Him last summer. As if it would take back six years of torment.

Ginny nodded and followed up with a question to which the answer already buzzed in my ears. "You're Head Boy, I'd assume." She didn't ask, instead she stated, but he nodded anyway, affirming my inner turmoil.

"Yeah," he answered flatly.

I couldn't hold in my soft groan. "Brilliant."


	3. Chapter 3

**Seasons of Love, glee :3**

"He looks different." Ginny commented over dinner that night in the Great Hall.

I frowned. "Who?" I asked through a haze, looking up from my goblet of pumpkin juice.

She laughed. "Draco, silly." She was looking over my shoulder so I turned, slowly to follow her gaze. Across the hall, Draco was seated at his table, but I idly noticed he was sitting alone. "Doesn't he look different?"

I nodded, spooning soup into my mouth slowly. "You mean even more tortured than in sixth year when he was plotting our Headmaster's death?" My voice dripped snark, but I didn't care. The fact that I would be essentially living with Draco made me nauseous. I'd tried to thwart Harry's attempts at claiming Draco's being a Death Eater sixth year and was proved wrong and it'd been a bitter pill to swallow. After that, when he walked into Voldemort's arms at the Battle of Hogwarts the scab was ripped from it's fresh wound.

"Hermione!" Ginny tried to protest, but I could see she was really laughing.

"You know I'm right, Ginny!" I insisted, turning from where I'd been watching Draco's - likely - self imposed soletary confinement.

She nodded, turning her geze to mine once again. "I know but still."

"Can we just talk about something else?" I asked, poking at the shimmering piece of baked chicken on my plate.

"Of course." She answered, but soon we lapsed into silence. I sighed, glancing around at the first years with a sad fondness. Those were kids that were to only read about the trials of the last decade in books. Yes, they'd heard their parents whispering in the kitchen after dinner, but their wide eyed gaze had been guarded from the newspaper articles. They'd not seen the horror. They hadn't seen this very school in shambles as I had. For that I was envious yet I was still glad for them.

I looked around the room and saw ghosts of the Battle. The castle had been restored to it's former greatness, but for those of us that were there - or maybe it was just me - the entire castle lie in memorial to those lost. It's beauty was only intensified by remembering it's broken form.

"Hermione!" Ginny's voice startled me from my thoughts. "You okay?"

I swallowed, nodding. "Yeah, I'm good." It wasn't a lie. I was good. Just distracted.

She laughed. "Okay, well, dinner's over." She was standing on the other side of the table, looking down at me with a little smirk. "You not hungry?"

I nodded. "Yeah, must've eaten too much from the Trolley." I smiled, standing and following through the crowds of students until we met at the end of the table.

She smiled, linking her arm with mine. "Ready for your first night in Head Quarters'?"

"No one calls it that." I answered with a smirk.

"Well I do." She grinned, releasing my arm and at the foot of the staircase. She wiggled her eyebrows and stepped onto the top step. "Good night Granger. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." She joked before bolting off up the stairs. The very idea made me shiver.

The trek to "Head Quarters'" as Ginny so lovingly put it was a series of right turns past classrooms to the very back of the school. These hallways were vacant, the rest of the students heading toward their respective common rooms. Eventually, the corridor bottomed out into what appeared to be a dead end, but I reached into my robes and pulled out my wand, tapping the bare wall. There was a shudder and the wall morphed into tall double doors.

I exhaled, opening the door slowly. I didn't know if Draco was here yet or not, but when the doors fully opened I saw an empty common room. It was comfortably large with a plush couch in the center across from a brewing fire and a couple of arm chairs. In front of me in the entry was two trunks, one mine, the other Draco's. I grabbed my trunk, pulling it after me toward my door - clearly marked with a newly made name plate - in order to be hidden away before Draco so much as crested the door, but I wasn't that lucky. Just as my hand grazed the brass door nob, the giant doors opened and I was no longer alone. I froze, hand gripping the nob. "Draco." I greeted icily, but he slipped inside without the slightest malice.

"Hermione." He was picking up his own trunk, rolling it over to his door directly across from mine. I don't think he'd ever called me Hermione. It was a strange sound. His voice wrapped around my name like a vice and I felt a shiver ran up my spine. I wouldn't admit it to anyone, but I liked it.

I wavered at the door for a moment and then slipped behind it to avoid his probing stare.

**Oh, wouldn't it be lovely if I knew where I was going with this? :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I really.. yeah :) **

**Just FYI to those lovely ladies (or maybe dudes idk :) that have favorite this story: that's cool... but the only reason I write another chapter is cuz of Fel's reviews. (if you are saying "who is fel?" I'm sorry for you bc she's epic :) **

The next morning I woke up with a wicked chill. My bare feet were sticking out from the covers on my four poster bed and I hissed, pulling them sharply from the icy air. It was the first strains of fall, seeping through the glorious summer. It wasn't to be trusted.

Slowly I sat up, peering out the window at the overcast sky. From my window there was the lake, framed by the outline of the sprawling forest. I'd be lying if I said the view wasn't beautiful even on a day like today when the sun no where to be found and yet it rose anyway. The sky was a misty gray and a fog had settled among the tall trees of the Forbidden Forest. It was eerily beautiful and it sent shivers up my spine just as it's chill had woken me.

I turned my eyes to the cool stone floor and gathered the strength to pull my feet from their cocoon and onto the smooth stone. To my surprise it wasn't painfully cold, instead it teased my feet as I scampered over to the wardrobe to gather my clothes for the day. That was one of the main differences between the dorms I'd lived in for six years. My room now had one full sized four poster bed with gold and maroon drapes - I assume they change with the Head Girl or Boy - along with a wardrobe and a plushy maroon chair stationed in front of the window.

At my wardrobe I pulled out a pair of fresh robes and then padded barefoot into the adjoining bathroom. It was quite spacious with a glassed in shower which still glistened from my shower the night before. I peered at myself in the mirror, short hair sticking up in uncanny fashion and maroon pajama pants sagging against my hips. I rolled my shoulders and slipped off the white tank top I'd worn to bed, slowly replacing each item of clothing I disrobed with a new piece. Soon I was standing there with a brush, ratting through my bush of brown curls, carefully taming it into it's rightful soft curl.

I exhaled, leaving the bathroom and walking over to grab my rucksack. I cast a glance to my watch and I smiled. I was early - as always - so I should sneak out before Draco, but obviously it wasn't that easy. When I opened the door, Draco was sitting on the couch. As our eyes met, the sun passed through a cloud and cast wayward rays through the wide back windows of the common room. The sun reflected off of his platinum blond hair as he stood up, robes draping to the floor in one fluid motion to sling his rucksack over his shoulder. "Good morning." His voice was deeper than I remembered it, but maybe it was just the morning haze.

"Morning." I replied without much enthusiasm, walking quickly toward the door, but he beat me there. He opened it and held it open for me. "Thank you." I said dryly. I could feel him trailing after me and I groaned. "Is there something you need, Draco?"

He exhaled and his hand wrapped around my upper arm, stopping me in the middle of the empty hallway. "Have I done something in particular?" His voice was a hushed whisper, for fear of any students straying from the path.

I couldn't resist a smirk. "Hmm... maybe the past seven years."

"Okay," he began, releasing my arm. "I deserved that." He glanced away for a fraction of a second and then his gray eyes met mine once again. This time they were softer than before, begging mine for... mercy? "Hermione, I'm not that person anymore."

I scoffed. "What changed?" I could hear the insensitivity in my voice, but I could only remember his cold stare calling me a Mudblood for years.

He sighed. "Does it matter?" He asked softly, eyes still pleading. His hand reached out, brushing mine with a tenderness I never believed he could convey.

"I-" I began, but cut myself short, staring at the wall behind him because I couldn't bare to look into his eyes another moment. My heart was pounding and it made me nervous. "No, no it doesn't." I admitted more to get out of there than because I believed it. His gaze was intense and overpowered my judgment. I needed to get away so I could think clearly.

He let out a relieved breath. "I know after everything I've done..." He trailed off, himself staring at the wall behind me for a moment as if reliving it, before continuing. "I know we may never be friends, but we are going to be around each other... we could at least be... civil."

I nodded a little too quickly, head bobbing with my now racing pulse. "Course." I agreed, wrapping my arms around my middle awkwardly.

"Are you alright?" He asked, noting my edgy behavior.

I nodded. "Yeah, just hungry. I'll see you later Draco." With that, I practically ran down the hallway.

**woah, it's sad this is the longest chapter yet, but please REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 5

**musical, honor choir, board if education, college, class, solo contest, did I mention im loosing my voice? anyway excuses excuses I know don't shoot.**

**and I am sorry for any typos..the majority of this was written on iphone because I'm too tired to get out my computer. so yeah tired. sorry.**

**Review?**

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Ginny asked when I arrived at the table flushed and out of breath.

I sat down quickly, trying to come up with an answer. "I..." I trailed off, picking at my eggs with a fork.

Ginny glanced over my shoulder and then back to me. "Did something happen with Draco?" She asked and I figured she'd seen Draco come into the Hall.

"I-" I began but then shook my head. "No."

"Then what?" Her eyebrows knit together in a frown.

I finally calmed own enough to think. Draco's intense stare had made my blood boil, but why? He was just Draco. The same Draco that had been terrible to me for six years. But was it right for me to deny him redemption? Maybe he had changed. He seemed sincere.

"Hermione?" Ginny interrupted and my head snapped up.

"I don't know." I answered honestly.

She frowned over her pumpkin juice. "Okay.." She didn't push it though. That was one of the things I loved the most about Ginny.

I exhaled softly. "How was your night?" I asked, dying to change the subject even though I swear I could feel someone watching me - undoubtedly Draco if I wasn't imaging it all together.

"It was good." She answered, nibbling slowly on her toast before she began a tale about one of the girl in her dormitory and her obsession with squirrels. I think she knew I wasn't listening, but continued to talk to fill the space between us. Not in the irritating way either. To give me time to think. This time didn't gain me much though. My thoughts were erratic, so unlike me, even as we walked to our first class - by now Ginny had segwayed into a one-sided conversation about her summer with Harry.

I knew the way I felt was insane. My heart shouldn't race from being near Draco. He shouldn't make me nervous, but this new side of him... this vulnerability was enticing. I felt drawn to it like moth to flame and truth be told that scared me. Because this was Draco after all. I spent the past seven years bickering with him, I punched him in the face for God's sake! He had called me a mudblood at least a hundred times, and he was just the absolute worst person. He'd walked away from the rubble at the Battle of Hogwarts straight into the "Dark Lord's" arms after we saved his life. He was horrible.

War had changed everyone, though. Maybe it'd even changed Draco as he said it had. Maybe it'd melted his cold exterior. But did that change everything he'd done in the past. No, it couldn't. He'd watched me be tortured.

"Hermione!" Ginny's voice shook me from my trance and I groaned, looking up. "Class is over."

I frowned, gathering my books. "Oh."

There was a beat of silence in which Ginny looked at me strangely. "What's going through your head?"

I blinked, unsure. "I, uh, don't know."

She exhaled. "Well, did you notice Malfoy ogling after you all class? Professor practically had to whack him with his own parchment to get his attention."

"Oh?" Somehow, that was the only response I had.

We ambled toward our next class in silence then, but I felt Ginny's gaze on me the entire time. There wasn't anything to say though. I had no clue what was going through my mind or why. I simply felt a knot forming in my stomach, twisting at the mention of Draco's name, or the sight of his platinum blonde hair, or the soft - soft? - glisten of his gray eyes. There was no rhyme nor reason for it..or at least not one I care to admit just yet.

* * *

_Dear Harry, _

_Things at Hogwarts are so different without Ron and yourself. I knew that before I came, but now that it's real, well, it's strange. I miss you very much, but I'm getting along. _

_Ginny is doing well, but I can tell she misses you. You should really owl her more. _

_Lots of love, _

_Hermione_

I sent the letter off without a word of Draco's presence. Even if I had wanted to mention him I didn't know how I would. This way was simpler. Harry reakkt didn't need to know..at least not yet.


End file.
